Staff

Guðrún Þóra Gunnarsdóttir has more than two decades of experience in teaching and researching tourism. She holds a M.B.A. degree in Tourism Management from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada and a MA degree in Comparative literature from the University of Oregon, USA.

Guðrún Þóra led the development of the Department of Rural Tourism at Holar University College that was established 1996. She was the head of the department from its inception until 2009 and an associate professor until 2016. Her research interests have focused on tourism in rural areas and destination development.

Location: University of Akureyri - Borgir research centre, 7th floor

• Email
• gudrunthora@rmf.is

Ása Marta joined ITRC in February 2021, as a researcher on cruise tourism. She will, among other things, work on two multinational research projects: Sustainable Arctic Cruise Communities and Navigating Impacts of the Arctic Tourism Industry on Nature, Commerce, and Culture in Northern Communities.

Ása holds an M.Sc. degree in Sustainable Destination Development from Uppsala University in Sweden and a B.Sc. degree in Tourism from the University of Iceland. 

Location: University of Akureyri - Borgir Research Building, 7th floor

• 460-8931
• asamarta@rmf.is

Eyrún started working at ITRC in 2008 and has worked on various projects locally in Iceland. Since 2014, Eyrún's research focus has been on social impacts of tourism and impact of tourism development on residents’ quality of life. Eyrún also organises seminars, conferences and other events on behalf of ITRC.

Eyrún holds a master’s degree in communication from Aalborg University, Denmark, a bachelor degree in humanistic informatics from the same university and a bachelor degree in tourism from the University of Iceland.

Location: Tæknigarður (207), Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavík

• E-mail:
• ejb@rmf.is

Íris Hrund Halldórsdóttir joined the ITRC´s staff in March 2018. Her research interests has been in the entrepreneurial environment of tourism as well as employment in the tourism industry.

Íris is a PhD stundent in Geography at the University of Iceland. She holds a master’s degree in Tourism Studies from the same university and a bachelor degree in Logistics from the Technical University of Iceland. She also has a diploma in Industrial Business Administration from the same university. Íris has also been working as an adjunct in Tourism Studies in the University of Iceland

Location: Tæknigarður (207), Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavík

• 525 5443
• irish@rmf.is

Hans started working at ITRC in 2023 as a project manager and researcher. He has been a project manager and principal researcher in diverse (inter)national projects related to tourism and climate change, scientific tourism, and tourism in protected areas. Hans also teaches part-time at the University of Iceland in the courses Northern Tourism, Tourism and the Environment and Protected Area Management.

Hans holds a Ph.D. degree in tourism studies from University of Iceland and has a master’s degree in environment and natural resource management and a master’s degree in political social science both from the University of Amsterdam.

Location: Tæknigarður, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavík

• hwelling@hi.is

Vera started working at the ITRC as a researcher in mid-March 2018. She has worked on various projects, mainly focusing on projects concerning cultural tourism but has also been involved in projects relating to tourists’ travel behaviours and the MICE market.

Vera holds a master’s degree in sustainable heritage management, with a focus on cultural dissemination, from Aarhus University and a BSc degree in anthropology from the same university.

Location: Tæknigarður (207), Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavík

• 525 5329
• verav@rmf.is

Þórný Barðadóttir joined the ITRC’s staff as a project manager in 2015 and has since early 2016 had a role of a researcher.

Þórný's main research focus has been on the local tourism brought in by cruise visits and the different procedures and roles of stakeholders of on-land cruise service as well as investigation on lines of communication and decision making in the Icelandic cruise sector. Þórný has also conducted surveys amongst cruise passengers in Icelandic cruise ports.   

Þórný is a PhD student in Tourism Studies at the University of Iceland. She holds a MA degree in Research Intensive Social Science and BA degree in Media Studies from the University of Akureyri.

Location: University of Akureyri - Borgir Research Building, 7th floor

• +354 895 4653
• E-mail:
• thorny@rmf.is

Andreas is Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship at the International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship, Coventry University which he joined in September 2019. His research interests extend across entrepreneurship, especially entrepreneurship education, graduate entrepreneurship and responsible entrepreneurship as well as issues relating to employment in the service industries, especially tourism and hospitality. Andreas continues to publish in these areas, including two recent books 'Youth Employment in Tourism and Hospitality: A Critical Review' (2015) and 'Entrepreneurship in Tourism' with Routledge (2019). Andreas is currently, with members of the Tourism Workforce Research Group, co-editing a book 'Tourism Employment in Nordic Countries: Trends, practice and opportunities' to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020.

He was one of the founding members in 2017 of Tourism Workforce a research group at the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre that investigates employment issues as they apply to Nordic countries. He became an Affiliate Researcher at the Centre in October 2018 and continues to lead jointly with Íris Hrund Halldórsdóttir Tourism Workforce.

Location: Coventry University
Email: awalmsley@marjon.ac.uk 

• awalmsley@marjon.ac.uk

Dr. Desiderio Juan García-Almeida is professor of management at the Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Tourism of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a leading institution in research on tourism and hospitality management in Europe. He completed his PhD with a doctoral thesis on knowledge transfer in hotel chains. Prior to that he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management, a Bachelor’s degree in Translation, and a Master’s degree in Tourism Management and Planning.

His research interests focus on knowledge management and innovation, management skills, immigration, entrepreneurship, family firms, and tourism and hospitality management. He has published several articles in academic journals such as the Service Industries Journal, Family Business Review, Tourism Management, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, and International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration. He teaches courses on organization, management skills, strategic management, competitiveness and destination management, and hospitality management. He is a regular visiting professor at the Faculty of Tourism at Munich University of Applied Sciences, and he cooperates with colleagues from the University of Iceland.

• dj.garcia@ulpgc.es

Nathan Reigner, PhD was a Fulbright Scholar hosted by the ITRC and the University of Akureyri 2019.

His research, funded by the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and US National Science Foundation's Arctic research program, is focused on national parks and tourism in Iceland.  Nathan will pursue two tracks of research during his time with RMF: 1) documenting and analyzing the initiatives to reorganize administration of Iceland's national parks and establish a central highlands national park, and 2) applying and adapting data collection methods for integrated monitoring of tourism to parks, including social, environmental, and management aspects of tourism pressure.

Dr. Reigner comes to Iceland from the United States where he is the principal of Recreation and Tourism Science, an independent consultancy that helps parks, protected areas, and tourism destinations address issues of carrying capacity, crowding, and conflict.  In addition to his work in Iceland, Nathan has ongoing projects in Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the White Mountain National Forest.

Nathan is a member of the National Academies of Science's Transportation Research Board Standing Committee on the Transportation Needs of National Parks and Public Lands and is a 2018 Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center Research Fellow.  Nathan is an avid outdoor recreationist with passions for skiing, hiking, biking, and dinner cooked on a campfire.

• nathan@recreationtourismscience.com